In the spring of junior year, two high school buddies and I headed east to visit 11 colleges. We went with our parents’ blessing, but otherwise, it was our adventure. As our third son nears his junior year, I recoil at the nonsense that college admission has become: SAT-prep regimens lasting several years, SAT tutors teaching aspirants how to game a test, 14-year-olds fine-tuning their school activities with college-interview appeal in mind, helicopter parents dramatizing every detail as if their worthiness were on the line. It is still just a college decision, not some lifetime prize being won or lost. It is difficult not to get swept up in the nonsense.

(Tom Ehrich is a writer, church consultant and Episcopal priest based in New York. He is the author of “Just Wondering, Jesus,” and the founder of the Church Wellness Project, http://www.churchwellness.com. His Web site is http://www.morningwalkmedia.com.)